Quartz, Silica and the UK: Why Safe Fabrication Matters More Than a Ban

Where the risk really lies

The risk is in the workshop, not in your kitchen. Quartz worktops are made mostly of crystalline silica, a natural mineral also found in granite, sandstone and ordinary concrete. Once a worktop is installed it is inert. It does not release dust, and it is safe to live with, cook on and clean.

The danger arises when stone is cut, ground and polished. Those processes can release respirable crystalline silica, a dust fine enough to reach deep into the lungs. Breathed in over months and years without proper controls, it can cause silicosis, an incurable and sometimes fatal disease.

Reported UK cases follow a clear pattern. As the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) has noted, they involve young men exposed over long periods in workshops that cut dry, without water suppression, extraction or proper respiratory protection. The material is not the variable. The way it is worked is.

Why the UK is taking a different path

The UK has chosen to raise standards rather than ban the material, and we think that is right. In May this year, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), working with the industry, set out strengthened expectations for how engineered stone must be fabricated.

The WFF’s view is that a blanket ban “risks simply moving the problem elsewhere rather than addressing its root causes”. It points out that a product marketed as low silica still has to be cut, and still produces dust that must be controlled.

To help homeowners and retailers tell the difference, the WFF launched an industry Quality Mark in April 2026, with support from the Health and Safety Executive and the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

How we work in our own workshop

Every worktop from Gemini Worktops is templated, cut, shaped and polished in our own workshop in Middlesbrough, by our own team. Because we control the whole process, we can be specific about how it is done.

• Wet working, always. Our saws, CNC machines, edge polishers and hand tools all run with water suppression, and dry grinding is prohibited. Water keeps silica in slurry rather than in the air.
• Enclosed machines. Our CNC machines are enclosed, with timed door locks that hold the doors shut while mist settles after each cut.
• Wet cleaning only. Floors and walkways are kept damp, slurry is cleared with hoses and squeegees, and dry sweeping is not allowed. Water hoses have replaced compressed air.
• The right protective equipment. Our finishers, who directly process stone worktops, all wear P3-rated powered respirators that comply with BS EN 12941.
• Clean habits. There is a set procedure for removing protective clothing in a clean area, with the respirator removed last. Eating and drinking are not allowed in the workshop.
• Training and health surveillance. Everyone handling stone is trained in silica awareness and our safe working procedures.

These controls are written into our COSHH assessment, risk assessments and operating procedures, and are reviewed at least once a year.

We are members of the Worktop Fabricators Federation, and we have achieved Audited Member status in the WFF Quality Mark.

Measured, not assumed

In our most recent independent survey, in July 2026, every silica sample taken from our team was below the legal limit. Readings ranged between 16% and 51% of the Workplace Exposure Limit.

The specialist fits a small air sampler to each operator for a normal working day, then sends the filters to a laboratory. Each sample is taken in the breathing zone, so it measures what the person actually breathes rather than what the room average suggests.

The same reports tell us where we can still do better, and we act on them. The law asks for exposure to be kept as low as reasonably practicable, not just under the limit.

What to ask before you buy

A quartz worktop is safe to live with. The choice that matters is who makes it. Whoever you choose, these questions will tell you a great deal:

• Where will my worktop be cut and finished, and by whose team?
• Do you cut and polish wet, every time, with no dry cutting at all?
• When was your workshop’s air last independently tested, and how often is it done?
• Are your operators wearing P3-rated powered respirators, and are they offered health surveillance?
• Are you a WFF member, and which tier of the WFF Quality Mark do you hold?

A good fabricator will be glad to answer. If a business is vague, or the price seems too good to be true, it is worth asking why.

Nearly a century of stone, done responsibly

Our family has been shaping stone since 1927, and as we approach our centenary, the craft has changed beyond recognition. Laser templating, CNC machining and water-suppressed cutting have replaced much of what was once done by hand.

We agree with the WFF and the HSE: the answer to silica is not to ban a material, but to insist on doing the work properly, to measure it honestly and to keep improving.

If you would like to know more about how we work, or to ask any of the questions above, please get in touch.